Steve Buyer: “I do agree on one thing with the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders). This amendment is important. It is important…”

“I do agree on one thing with the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders). This amendment is important. It is important because if it passes, people will die, and that is no exaggeration. Why would we ever want to permit a system that is one of the best in the world, like the FDA, which ensures that we have drug safety in our Nation, why do we want to open it up so we are not able to have that gold standard that a former colleague talked about? When people see an FDA-approved drug, they know about the efficacy and safety of that particular drug. The Food and Drug Administration and the Customs Service have testified as recently as June 7th that 'Drugs being imported from outside the United States pose considerable risk to consumers because they may be counterfeit, expired, superpotent, subpotent, simply tainted, or mislabeled.' American consumers should not have to worry that the drugs they take may be adulterated, just as the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) said, with yellow highway paint, which the FDA has found with imported drugs. Defeat the Sanders amendment.”